Workplace safety practices include the practice of keeping electrical cables (welding cables, power cords, and so forth) suspended so that they are not in contact with the ground and are not likely to come into contact with a worker. This safety practice is advisable because of the risk that some portion of a worker's body may complete an electrical circuit if the worker is standing on the ground and touches a cable, or if the ground itself is in electrical contact with an electrical cable.
A traditional way to keep electrical cables off the ground on a work site is to use lengths of lumber nominally 2 in. by 4 in. in cross section (for example, common 8 foot long two-by-four “studs”) to prop the cables overhead. One disadvantage of using lumber to prop up cables is that each tower is constructed onsite, requiring time consuming rough carpentry to add a base to each vertical board. Hooks to suspend the cables are formed by nails driven partially into the top of the tower, a less-than-ideal situation since it would be preferable for all parts of the tower to be nonconductive. These lumber towers are only marginally effective because they are prone to falling over due to a high center of gravity.
The lumber towers are awkward to move and are almost never moved from one job site to another. They are so inconvenient to move and/or store that construction 2 companies routinely dispose of them when a job is completed, and accept that new ones will need to be constructed at future construction sites. This is a waste of resources, a drag on productivity, and an economically inefficient recurring cost.
What is needed is a support structure that will hold electrical cables overhead safely, and that is inexpensive, lightweight, reusable, and convenient to move and store.